In a column in Het Nieuwsblad, Patrick Lefebvre urged teams not to confront ASO, the organizer of the Tour de France. The Detunink-Quickstep team boss cautioned that many team managers and pundits suggested that the current restrictions and economic situation related to the COVID-19 pandemic created an opportunity for cycling to rethink its economic model.

"With all due respect to Renate Schott [broadcaster and journalist], he is wrong when he says that now is the time to reform cycling," Lefebvre wrote on Saturday.

ASO, the organizer of the Tour de France, is the only race organizer to confirm a new date for the main event. There was talk earlier this week that teams invited to the Tour might be asked to reduce their roster to seven riders, but this was later denied.

However, Lefebvre said that at this point the Tour is so relevant and the teams so dependent on the exposure the race generates that the teams are not in a position to start negotiating with ASO over trivial matters.

For Lefebvre, participation in the Tour de France was an important factor in whether many WorldTour teams would survive the year.

"As a team, we have no legs. There are a lot of teams that are keeping up appearances, but we are not going to fight ASO right now. If they want seven riders per team, it will be seven. If we start a war now, we won't have 10 teams left on the World Tour next year."

Lefebvre also declared that he had been outspoken many times over the years about the governance of the sport, and that while teams sometimes shared similar beliefs and ideas, he was often the first and only voice when it came to standing up for those beliefs.